Take The Shot
by that drama queen
Summary: [cowritten with Mistress of the Universe] She was thrilled that the kiss happened but is she ready to take it to the next level with the guy she used to take baths with as a toddler?


Disclaimer We as a unit do not own RFR…I think that the McRobb brothers do. How rich are those guys anyway?  
Summary She was thrilled that the kiss happened but is she ready to take it to the next level with the guy she used to take baths with as a toddler?  
Author's Note #1 I think I did pretty well considering I didn't see the last three episodes. Don't mind the excessive fluff, just enjoy it! Hope you enjoy this piece of work!  
Author's Note #2 Hey everybody! this is the Mistress, co-writing with the lovely and talented explosivelildynamo, here to bring you a quality fic about what happens after Ray and Lily kissed (excluding the conversation at the very end of the actual episode... we thought that was LAME). So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the fic!

_**Take The Shot  
By explosivelildynamo  
And Mistress of the Universe**_

**Beep beep! Beep beep!**

The snooze button was usually Lily's best friend but she had to force herself to get out of bed. Despite spending a restless and dreamless night, her third one in a row, she felt this urgency to get up.

As she went to the bathroom to start getting ready for school, she thought back to the events of Friday night...her plan to get Veronica to break up with Ray. It went well…a little too well. Veronica bought into it like she had hoped but a part of her felt a spark, like it had been something real.

But Ray...Ray's expression had been impossible to read. Sure, the kiss had been great- for her at least. But Ray could have been completely disgusted with her lack of lip-locking skills, and that was why he had chased after Veronica. Lily sighed unhappily and squeezed out a glob of toothpaste. "Maybe it was my breath or something..." she said to herself in the mirror.

After brushing her teeth, she brushed her hair, continuing to ponder what could happen between her and Ray. The one thing that stuck out in her mind was that she didn't want to lose him. She didn't want things to become extremely weird. He was a part of her life since…well, it seemed like forever. She didn't want their friendship to get messed up because of a kiss.

She remembered when she'd first come to realization that she might actually have a thing for Ray. Accepting that she was attracted wasn't the hard part... it was figuring out how to deal with it. The kiss, the whole idea, had been no where near what Lily was looking for. She wanted a relationship... right? But how is anyone supposed to accomplish that without ruining a friendship? Lily headed back into her room, shedding her pajamas and yanking on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Lily shivered slightly as a breeze floated through her room and as she carefully closed her window she got the distinct feeling that there was something special about today.

Once she arrived downstairs, she walked into the dining room where her parents were sipping on coffee, reading sections of the newspaper. She went past them into the kitchen to prepare some toast and fill a bowl up with cereal and milk.

"You're up early," Simone Randall greeted her daughter, "What's going on?"

"Oh nothing, mother," she replied nonchalantly, "I just wanted to take my time for a change and not scramble outta here."

Lily's parents exchanged looks but said nothing more and returned to reading quietly. She munched softly on her cereal and relived the kiss one more time in her mind. A familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach arose and she no longer felt like eating. "If I ever do get to kiss Ray again, I'm gonna have a problem." The lurking, jumpy feeling in her stomach returned every time Lily thought about Ray, the kiss, anything. "I guess this only means one thing," she though "I need to face this." She sighed heavily out loud, causing both parents to emerge from behind their newspapers.

"Anything wrong, dear?" Simone asked pleasantly.

"Nothing, Mom, just thinking, that's all."

Her mother seemed satisfied with the answer and retreated back to behind her paper. With that Lily stood up carefully and walked her half finished bowl of cereal to the sink. She leaned on the edge of the sink and glanced at her reflection in the window in front of her. "But how do I fix it?"

* * *

She decided to walk to school early to allow her to have a moment of solitude to think things through. She said goodbye to her parents, grabbed her coat out of the closet and headed out towards Henry Roscoe High. In the course of her ten minute walk, she became more and more confused. The only two things she was sure of were that she was officially confused and that she needed help figuring everything out. Lily smiled to herself, at least she knew she had the right people on her side- if anyone could give advice it was her friends. She checked her watch- only 7:15. School wouldn't start for another 20 minutes, and if Lily could find anyone this early, that was plenty of time to get some quality advice.

Lily broke into a run as she approached the entrance to the school, and banged through the doors. The hallways were practically bare, but Lily knew one person who was always in school this early. Travis practically lived in this place. She checked the cafeteria before finding him in the library, his nose buried behind a book about Buddhism.

"Hey, Travis," she greeted him semi-cheerfully as she sat down and took her music theory homework out.

"Hey Lily, what's up? You've been looking sort of... off lately."

"You know what happened Friday night, right?" Lily asked him carefully.

Travis closed his book and turned to face Lily completely. "I got the general idea from Robbie, but no details. Just that Ray and Ronnie are over." He read the expression on Lily's face and raised an eyebrow at her. "Did something else happen?"

Lily sighed. "I kissed Ray." She had lived through the kiss, but saying it out loud made it that much more real. She looked down at her binder and started to scribble.

Travis' eyes widened in shock, "You kissed him?" Lily nodded but kept her head down, so Travis continued. "How did it happen?"

"He came to me; he needed help. Ronnie just couldn't take a hint so I told him to do the worst thing you could do to a girl: cheat on her. He didn't actually do it, we just kissed in front of her so that she'd buy into it," Lily explained, exhaling sharply at the end.

"So the kiss was your idea?" A glint of knowing sparkled in Travis' eye as he half smiled at the girl sitting next to him.

"Yeah." Lily looked up at Travis and said, "So what now?"

"Do you like him?" Travis said simply.

"Yes." The reality set in as a lump formed in her throat: no matter what did, she was risking a lot, almost ten years of friendship.

Travis smiled at her and said, "Lily, just answer this- is it worth it?", as if he were reading her mind.

"I don't know; I've never been in love..." Lily confessed.

"Do you love your friends?"

"Yeah...but like family..." Lily was a bit confused at where Travis was going.

"Well, Ray's your friend, right? But obviously your feelings towards him aren't very 'family-ish'..." Travis sighed and looked down to the table then back up at Lily. "All I'm saying is that love is love. It comes in many different forms, but its all one very powerful emotion. You can't ignore you're feelings towards Ray, and you don't have to label them, but you need to talk to him. That's all I'm saying." Travis leaned back in his chair and propped open his book again, his eyes away from Lily.

"I've tried to...but either I chicken out or he's not around..." Lily explained, whining slightly.

Travis smiled at her over his book, "When the time is right, he will find you," he replied in his usual cryptic manner.

Lily rolled her eyes and decided to ask Robbie his point of view later on. She glanced at her watch and suggested, "Ten minutes before class...wanna walk me to my locker and maybe look for Robbie?"

A grin spread across Travis' face, "My advice wasn't good enough?" he teased, looking mildly offended. Tucking his book into a shoulder bag, he hoisted himself out of his chair and offered Lily and arm in escort. "M'Lady?"

Lily linked arms with Travis and replied, "I just wanted Robbie's take on this."

They walked down the hallway and found that Robbie was standing at his locker, which was pretty close to Lily's and Travis'.

Travis grinned at Lily and muttered "See you." then headed in the opposite direction as Lily approached Robbie. "Hey Buddy, up for a nice long chat?"

Robbie turned to face one of his childhood friends and replied, "Sure, Lily. What's on your mind?"

Lily smiled at the warm tone of voice Robbie used, and dropped her bag to ground. She sunk down to lean against a locker, and patted the floor for Robbie to join her. As he came down to her level she looked over at her curly haired friend. "So... talked to Ray lately?"

"Uh, yeah, Saturday night...he told me what happened...is that what you want to talk about?" he replied gently, knowing that it was a sensitive subject.

Lily crossed her legs nervously and turned to face Robbie. "I like him, Robbie. What do I do? I mean, this is Ray we're talking about..." She trailed off, hoping Robbie would understand what she meant.

Robbie thought about things carefully for a moment. "Well...I've know you guys since we were seven and I know you guys have known each other longer. I'm not crazy about things changing between the three of us but I know the feeling of falling in love. Sometimes you gotta go with your heart. Risk is a part of growth, like change. If you take the chance on Ray, I'll accept the change. As for it being Ray...well, he is the first guy you've ever seen naked." He added the last part teasingly. He remembered Ray mentioning that they took baths together as very little children, from about ages 3-5, and he couldn't resist.

Lily grinned at him, "Shut up, loser." and she shoved him affectionately. But her smile faded slightly and she looked Robbie in the eye again, "So, I guess this means I should talk to Ray, huh?"

Robbie nodded. "You gotta figure things out, make sure you're the same page. You know Ray; if you don't spell things out, he's completely clueless."

* * *

After talking to Robbie and taking a pit stop at the water fountain, Lily stepped into her homeroom and found the usual faces, including Travis and Robbie but no Ray. She sat behind Robbie, at the desk on Travis' right, at the corner of the room. "Guys, where's Ray?" she whispered so she could be heard by the guys but no one else.

Travis and Robbie shot quizzical glances at Lily and both shrugged. Robbie turned in his chair and whispered back. "I don't know, I would think Ray would have mentioned to me if he were staying home. Maybe he's got a test?" he smiled apologetically and turned back around, calling "Here" as the teacher took attendance.

Lily shot a sideways glance at Travis who shrugged and she sunk lower into her seat. "Now how am I supposed to talk to him if he's not **here**." She muttered to herself.

Travis shrugged. "Maybe he's just late."

Lily sat thru all of her English Literature class, fidgeting. Robbie and Travis noticed their friend's behavior and wished they could do something to help but they had dispensed the advice she sought. They couldn't help the fact that Ray wasn't around.

* * *

Lily headed straight for her chemistry class as soon as the bell rang and met up with Audrey on the way.

"Hey, here are your notes from last week," she said as she handed Lily a pile of papers, "Thanks. I owe you."

"Uh huh," Lily replied distractedly as the pair stepped into their class and sat at their station.

Lily took a deep breath in and the two took their seats. "Well, you know how Ray and Veronica broke up? See, I was sort of... involved in that-" Just as Audrey began to look interested, the conversation was cut short by their Chemistry teacher. As he began scratching away at the board with notes, Lily pulled out a scrap of paper and scrawled on it in her favorite purple pen- three words: "I kissed Ray."

Audrey grabbed a blue pen and scribbled back, "Should I congratulate you?"

Lily rolled her eyes at the paper and wrote back in her own loopy handwriting. "I'm not sure yet. I haven't exactly discussed it with him... the whole thing was sort of confusing."

Audrey smiled. "You know what you need to do. I bet Travis and Robbie have told you already. When do you plan on doing it?" she wrote back.

Lily scoffed at the paper when she received it and scribbled back quickly, "What do you guys do, plan this stuff? I **would** talk to him, but he's not here today. Travis said 'he'd find me when the time is right'. Whenever that is."

"It figures he would say that. Don't think the worst. He's NOT avoiding you," Audrey scrawled onto the paper after reading Lily's answer.

"Well now of course I do think that. Thanks a lot. But you know what, I'll see him eventually. I'm more concerned in what I'm supposed to say to him." Lily wrote back, and yawned slightly as she handed it back to Audrey, reminding her of the sleepless night she'd spent the night before. She should be using Chemistry class for a nap, not note passing!

Audrey simply shook her head at Lily as she decided to write one long note for her to read later.

Lily watched Audrey like a hawk for the rest of the Chemistry period, fiddling with her hair, anxious to read the epic note Audrey was writing back to her.

* * *

At last the bell rang and Audrey carefully folded the note and handed it to Lily, who merely ripped it open again and began scanning through the words as she exited the classroom and headed towards the cafeteria. Everyone scattered about their own ways. Lily headed towards her locker and found Ray standing there, waiting for her. Her stomach felt kinda queasy and she was glad she hadn't lunch yet. She calmly and casually walked to her locker and began to unlock it.

Ray leaned casually against the locker beside Lily and looked at her. Lily could help but notice that they were merely inches away from each other. "So, Lily. Whats up?"

"We need to talk," the blonde said in a surprisingly calm voice.

Ray half smiled at her, not looking at all shocked. "Sure thing, Lil. Why don't we get out of the hallway, though? What about the courtyard?"

Lily nodded. "Okay..." She felt Ray take her hand and she decided just to let him lead.

They reached the courtyard, and Ray sat himself down on a nerby bench, pulling Lily along with him. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Uh...the kiss..." Lily said slowly, "I've wanted to talk to you about it but I couldn't catch you over the weekend and you were MIA this morning."

Ray's eyes widened slightly but he grinned none the less, "Sorry about that, I had a dentist appointment this morning I'd forgotten about so I didn't get a chance to tell anybody I wouldn't be here. Did get me out of English Lit though." Ray's smile faded and he looked into Lily's eyes, "Now, what about the kiss?"

"It scared me. It felt so good to finally do it, you know? But I'm scared...nothing's gonna be the same anymore. I don't wanna lose your friendship...you mean the world to me but I'm afraid that if we hook up and it doesn't last, I might lose you forever."

Ray took a moment to process the information Lily had just thrown at him, and then looked up at Lily, a quirky smile spreading across his lips. "What do you mean 'to finally do it'? How long have you been waiting to kiss me, Lily Randall?"

Lily blushed as she confessed, "Probably since you hit puberty." She pulled one corner of her lips to form a half-smile.

Ray's smile widened and he laughed slightly, "Well, why didn't you tell me? We could have been kissing up a storm by now!"

"I don't know...I got really comfortable with our friendship...and I'm not the most experienced at matters of the heart. I didn't wanna mess up."

Ray smiled again, and looked to the ground. "Lily, I can assure you that I'm probably less experienced at this than you are, but here's the thing..." He took a deep breath, hhis eyes flickered from Lily's face and back to the ground as he continued. "I've liked you almost since the beginning of this year, and that's turned into a big part of our friendship. But it's not the only part, and if the whole dating thing doesn't work out, it'll be ok, because we're good enough friends that we can live through that. Just have a little faith in us…and in me."

Lily wrapped Ray into a hug. "You're the most important person to me. I love you, no matter what happens," she said into his ear.

Lily pulled back from the hug smiling wider than Ray had ever seen her smile. A familiar mischievous look glimmered in his eyes and just as Lily was about to ask him what was up, he said, "This is payback, Miss Randall!"

And with that he pulled Lily into him, and kissed her. A happy feeling spread through Lily as she thought about how this kiss was just as wonderful as the last- if not better. But the only difference with this one was that this time it was Ray's idea.


End file.
